


bless the rains

by weasleysking



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Richie Tozier, Crying, Falling In Love, Fluff, Gay, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Idiots in Love, Kissing, Losers Club (IT) Friendship, Love, Marriage Proposal, Reddie, Teenage Losers Club (IT)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 07:23:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20385892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weasleysking/pseuds/weasleysking
Summary: a glimpse into some of the most significant memories of richie and eddie's relationship as richie works up the courage to do something huge.





	1. the start

**Author's Note:**

> hey! so these are a bunch of reddie fics i've written over time that can all kinda fit into one storyline. in my head, the losers never left derry after their first interaction with pennywise. i think they deserved to grow up together. i'm always keen for feedback! :)

As usual, they were down in the Barrens. They always seemed to be down in the Barrens. It was like the automatic meeting place for The Losers. They didn’t even have to discuss it. They met there in the mornings unless they had planned otherwise, if someone rode past your front porch saying something had happened, they didn’t need to wait to tell you where they were going. You knew it was the Barrens. In some ways, The Barrens were a symbol of the group. It was where everything began. Where they first told each other their stories. Where they hung out together as a full group. Yes, a symbol. The Barrens were a symbol of the horrors they went through together, a perfect, sunny, fun symbol of the terrors that lay below Derry. 

This particular morning down in The Barrens was a sunny, calm one. Very little wind but the occasional breeze keeping everyone cool. It began with just Eddie, Bill and Richie. The three of them were waiting patiently for everyone else to arrive to talk about something Mike thought could prove useful. They sat in a circle, legs crossed, on the slightly damp bank just below where their bikes sat. Talking about who knows what but trying their best to avoid the obvious subject flickering around each of their minds.  
“Hey guys, want to hear about the magazines I found in my moms s-”  
“B-b-b-buh-b-beep beep, R-Richie,” Bill sighed, picking at the small sprigs of grass underneath them.  
“Yeah, beep beep,” Said Eddie moodily. He had been upset ever since Bill and Rich had explained what they’d found down at Neibolt street. Neibolt street...fuck. Even just thinking about it made him want to cry, throw up, scream. He must have gone pale because when he  
looked up, Bill frowned concerndley. 

“Y-y-y-you okay E-E-Eddie?”  
“I’m-” but words suddenly failed Eddie. What he was going to say was “I’m fine,” but he wasn’t. He wasn’t fine.  
“Eds?” Richie asked cautiously, far more cautiously than he would of usually spoken the name Eds.  
“Don’t call me that!” Eddie said loudly. “I’m not okay, no, I’m not! I’m fucking terrified! I can’t sleep! I can’t walk three paces out of my bedroom at night to use the toilet by myself!” He yelled, his voice shaking. Bill and Richie both stared at him, and Richie, for once, was silent.  
“E-E-Eddie…” Bill reached out to try and take Eddie’s hand but he snatched it away, his breathing starting to speed up.  
“I can’t walk home by myself! I can’t walk down the hallway to the safety of the room where my mum is, I have to run because something’s after me! I haven’t slept a wink since I walked through Neibolt and then you two idiots went back there! You could have died! Don’t you get it? This thing, this thing is after us and the rest of you are running around like we can beat It! I just- I can’t- I don’t-” But Eddie’s breathing had become hitched and fast, even faster than usual. He struggled around in his bag for his aspirator while Bill looked helplessly at Richie, who looked in pain, staring at Eddie. 

“I- can’t- find- my- fucking- aspirator-” Eddie gasped, still rummaging through his bag with shaking hands. It only took a second more for Richie to realise Eddie was struggling deeply and he jumped up, grabbing the bag off Eddie and grabbing out the spare aspirator that Eddie, in his panic, had forgotten was kept in the front pocket of his bag. Richie leaned over to hand it to the gasping Eddie, who blindly reach for it, grabbing Rich’s hand while he was handling for the aspirator. Once he finally had a grip on it, he took three huge puffs and wheezed out. He closed his eyes for a second and when he reopened them again, he was staring into two very concerned faces. 

And he burst into tears.  
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I know you’re not trying to get us a killed-”  
“W-w-w-we know you d-didn’t m-m-mean it,” Bill said, standing up to give Eddie and hug. “W-we’re all scared. W-w-we just feel l-l-like we need t-to do someth-th-thing,” He patted Eddie on the back. “R-r-right R-Rich?” He turned back to Richie, but he was still staring at the spot where he and Eddie’s hands had briefly touched.  
As Eddie mopped his hand across his face, he looked up and saw Richie standing there, still staring. He wiped away the last of his tears and frowned at Rich.  
“Richie?”  
“What?” his head whipped up and he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and smiled weakly and unconvincingly. “I’m good. Glad you’re okay Eds-Eddie.” He corrected himself.  
Eddie stared at him. Richie stared back. Their eyes locked. 

Bill looked back and forth from Richie to Eddie, confused.  
“Hey guys!” A voice called out, and Bev walked down the bank towards them, Ben, Stan and Mike trailing behind her. She gave them a little wave, and they all were taken out of their trance and back to earth. Eddie swiped away the last of the tears on his cheeks, not wanting the others to know he’d been crying.  
“Hey!” Richie called out, suddenly back to grinning. “Want to hear about the magazines I found in my mum’s sock dra-”  
“No!” Bev yelled as she slid down towards them.  
“Shut up Richie,” Stan rolled his eyes. Richie looked affronted. “I’m telling you, you want to hear this…” And he went off in a tangent, explaining something wildly inappropriate as he led the way down the stream, and the others followed, occasionally groaning and rolling their eyes. 

Bill wasn’t really listening as he trailed behind everyone else. He was staring at Eddie, who was still watching Richie with his eyes brighter and more alive than he had seen them for a while. Bill had felt something back there. Bill was a big believer in feeling things. His hunches and feelings were not always correct but he had known what he felt back there, that moment when Richie and Eddie had stopped and looked at each other. He felt it shoot down his spine quicker than he could spit out the word ‘the’. 

Bill had felt an explosion of sparks in that second those boys locked eyes, and now he was one hundred percent sure there was something neither Rich nor Eddie was telling him. Or each other for that matter. Mulling over this as he followed the rest of the group downstream, he wondered if what he had felt back there- if that was real. Because it sure as hell felt like it to him.


	2. because i'm in love with you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the first time teenage richie and eddie tell each other how they feel.

One cold Friday evening, Eddie lay on his bed completing his homework when a tap at his window made him look up. Richie was standing outside, pink nose and eyes sparkling from the cold. Eddie shook his head, a small smile spread across his lips. Getting up and opening the window, Richie leaned and grinned. “Thanks Spaghetti man.” he shivered. “She’s a cold one.”   
“Idiot.” Eddie shook his head again. “My mum’s not even home. You could have come through the front door.”   
Richie grinned. “I know. It’s more fun this way.”   
Eddie sighed. “So, what are you doing here? I was just about to have dinner. Wanna join?” He looked up at Richie, and a tingle was sent down his spine. 

Eddie Kaspbrak had been in love with Richie Tozier for as long as he could remember. For a while, Eddie, had thought the feelings may have been mutual, but not long after they’d all started high school, it was clear to Eddie that, Richie, aka their year groups resident idiot, wasn’t interested in a relationship- especially not with him. How could Eddie have been stupid enough to think that Richie would have felt that way about him? When Richie had come out as bisexual to the group, Eddie’s hopes had once again, been raised. But since they were about fifteen, Richie and Bev had been out at parties every weekend and had come back with many anecdotes of all the people Richie had hooked up with. He was making out with people left, right and center, coming home with a bruised neck every Friday night, and now, at 17, Eddie, though he’d had no confirmation, was sure that there was no way Richie could feel that way about him when there were so many more beautiful, interesting people that Richie could get with. 

“Nah,” he replied, flopping down on Eddie’s bed. “I was just wondering if you wanted to come to a party with me tonight. It’s at that chick Hallie’s place. Bev can’t come,” he said.   
Eddie frowned. “I...I guess I could...I don’t really want to drink or anything though.”   
“Great!” Richie sat up, grinning at him. “Well, duh, you don’t have to drink. You can help me when I’m smashed later.”   
Eddie sighed. If anything, he just wanted to stay at home and read a book, maybe watch some TV, cook himself some dinner and maybe walk over to Bill’s later and see if he wanted to hang out.   
“And there’s this girl,” Richie smirked. “The new chick, Karen, have you seen her, Eddie? Have you seen that ass?” Eddie gulped.   
“And I heard a whisper that she thought I was very charming when I showed her around a few weeks ago. Maybe tonight I could get lucky with her, huh Eds? What do you think?”   
Eddie turned away from Richie, busying himself with his books and said nothing, his face burning.   
“Eds?”   
“Actually, I don’t think I can come anymore,” Eddie replied, his voice harsher than he intended it to be.   
“Why not?” Asked Richie, and Eddie could hear from his voice that he was frowning.   
Eddie coughed and turned around, making his face as casual as possible. “Homework.”   
Richie stared at him, then his eyes traveled to the pile of homework on his bed that Eddie had been finishing as he’d come in.   
“Right,” Richie said, his face going red. “That’s it? Homework? Or what? You got a better offer?”   
Eddie closed his eyes momentarily, willing a better excuse to come to his head. The truth was, sitting in a room full of people drinking was one of Eddie’s least favourite things to do, but sitting in a room full of people drinking and watching Richie making out with a girl, someone who was not him, so fiercely as he did, was an even worse thought.   
“No. No of course not,” Eddie said quietly, opening his eyes again. “I would love to hang out with you Richie, but I just…” his voice faded.   
Richie looked affronted. He stood up, still a few meters away from Eddie, who was standing by the door. “You just what?” Said Richie angrily. “You just decided all of a sudden that you didn’t want to come? If you could explain to me why, then maybe I’d feel less like you just don’t want to be around me.” 

“I- I can’t,” Eddie whispered, his eyes filling with tears. “I’m sorry Richie, I can’t explain it, but I just can’t come.”   
“Fine.” Said Richie angrily, stuffing his hands in his jean pockets. “Just gonna do what you always do at the moment, are you? Go and fucking sulk. You seem to hate me at the moment.”   
“No!” Said Eddie, his voice rising. “No, listen, it’s nothing to do with you...well...it is...I mean...Oh god,” He ran his hands through his hair. “I can’t explain it Richie. But I don’t hate you!”   
“Right,” he said harshly. “And that’s why every time in the last few months I’ve opened my mouth you’ve gotten sulky.”   
“That’s because every time you open your mouth, you’re talking about some guy, or girl, that you hooked up with last weekend! Or you’re pointing out people that you’re gonna go ask out in stupid ways to amuse us!” Eddie yelled, a few tears escaping and falling down his cheeks.   
Richie laughed bitterly. “So what, Eddie? So fucking what? What’s the problem with me having a few drinks then hooking up with some people?! Or have you decided to join the people who call me a fuck boy? Who think it’s not okay for me to have a bit of fun? Because that’s fine. Whatever. You know what? I couldn’t care less.” He said, but the tears threatening to spill over Richie’s eyes said differently.   
Eddie tried to steady his voice but failed. He snapped.   
“For fucks sake Richie! I don’t hate you! I hate seeing you with every second girl or guy who walks past! And it’s not because I don’t think you should be having fun!” He yelled back.   
“Then why is it?” Richie spat. “Why Eddie, why the fuck do you care so much that I like to be so carefree? What’s your problem?!”   
“Because I’m in love with you!” Eddie screamed, and Richie’s eyes widened, his face turning white. For once, words failed Richie. Eddie’s voice caught momentarily. What are you doing?! His brain screamed at him, but the words flooded out and he couldn’t stop them. After years and years of holding these thoughts in, they were finally tumbling out of his mouth. 

“I have been in love with you since the day we met, Richie. And for a while there, I thought you might have loved me back too. But no. You turn to every second person you see and throw a shot down the hatch, then boom. You’re there. But me, Richie? I am not casual person. I wish it was that easy for me to turn to the first person I see at a party and be satisfied. But I think, I feel like I’m destined to care about one person so much that it nearly kills me. And that-” his voice cracked and tears cascaded down his face. “That person is you, Richie.” 

Richie was silent. His eyes were swimming, and his face was still white with shock.   
“Oh god,” Eddie said. “I can’t believe I just told you that. I’m- I’m sorry-” he turned around and ran down the stairs and out the front door into the cold night.   
“Eddie! “ Richie called after him, but he was already gone. “Shit,” Richie mumbled as he ran down the stairs. “Shit, shit, shit,” he shot out the door and into the rain that had begun as they’d been up in Eddie’s room. “Fuck!” he yelled, and pulled his head over his head. “Eddie! Eddie, where are you?!”   
In the distance, he saw Eddie’s small figure at the end of the street, turning left towards the old playground. Richie ran along the street, rain slowly soaking through his clothes with the streetlamps shining his path. When he skidded to a halt near the playground, he could see Eddie sitting on a swing, his whole body shaking.   
“Eddie, Eddie, Eddie,” Richie moaned, heading towards him and, not caring as he was already soaking wet, knelt in front of the swing that Eddie sat on.   
“Eddie,” he said again, looking up into the boy’s eyes. Eddie looked down at him, his cheeks wet a mix of rain drops and tears, his body racked with sobs. To Eddie’s surprise, Richie suddenly laughed. “Oh Eddie,” he said, his own face also covered in tears. “None of the people I’ve ever been with- they’ve never meant anything to me. Nothing at all. Unlike you, I am a casual person, and at this point, I honestly think that’s a result of pushing away my feelings for you for so many years.”   
Eddie stopped crying abruptly, staring at Richie. Their eyes locked, and Eddie knew that Richie wasn’t joking. “I have felt the same way about you that you have about me for so long. So. fucking Long. But we’re such different people, it makes sense we went about it different ways. I’ve always been social, and when I assumed, wrongly, that you didn’t feel the way about me that I did about you, it was too easy for me to find people to make out with. But honestly, Eddie, honestly, it never felt right. Not once. I-”   
He stopped and pulled a shocked Eddie up from the swing.   
“I love you, Eddie Kaspbrak,” Richie said his voice wavering. “I love you.”   
Eddie’s vision was blurred. His heart pounded so hard in his chest that it hurt.   
“I love you too, Richie. I will always love you.”   
Richie pulled Eddie so close that their bodies touched, and their lips met for the first time. As rain fell more heavily on to them, they stayed together, locked in position, and both boys felt a hundred fireworks exploding in their heads, nothing that either of them had experienced before, and nothing they’d ever experience with anyone else.


	3. acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> richie and eddie remember that no matter how significant and special their love is, there would always be people who would bring them down for it.

Eddie threw a nervous glance over his shoulder as he sped up his pace ever so slightly. It was just after 10pm one warm Friday night and the sky had been slowly darkening since Eddie left his house to meet Richie. When Richie had suggested casually to Eddie that they should meet later that night down at the park where they could finally be at peace, Eddie had not been a fan of the idea. But the two boys, who were very different, that was how they balanced each other out. And most of the time, Richie listened to Eddie. Just this once, Eddie thought to himself when Richie kissed him gently on the cheek as he said bye that afternoon, Just this once, I’m going to do something for him.

The two boys knew how dangerous their love was. They were well aware of the kind of people that surrounded them, particularly at school where they had been shoved around just on the other kid’s suspicions that something may have been going on between them. Or, more accurately, Eddie thought bitterly to himself, I’ve been shoved around. Richie would never take anyone’s crap. He’d turn right around and fight back. Eddie admired his boyfriend’s confidence at fighting back (though he and the rest of the Losers would never dare mention to Richie that he always seemed to lose) but he’d never be able to do it himself. 

“Kaspbrak,” Richie grinned when Eddie reached the park. He was sitting under the dim light of a streetlamp, moving slowly back and forward on a swing, smoking a cigarette. Eddie shook his head and smiled at his boyfriend.  
“You know,” he said, as he pulled Richie up off the swing and planted a gentle kiss on his lips. “You don’t look any cooler than usual when you smoke that crap.”  
Richie smirked. “I’m aware. I already look far too good anyway.” The two boys stood there, under the dim light and held each other tightly. Richie, who had his head on Eddie’s shoulder, was facing the way that Eddie had just come from when he suddenly raised his head.  
“Here comes trouble,” he mumbled angrily, and Eddie looked up, seeing the very people he really didn’t want to in that moment of peace.

“I thought you said we’d be alone here,” Eddie hissed as he stood, shoulder to shoulder with Richie, facing the group of guys from their year who found immense pleasure in throwing the two boys around.  
“What, you think I invited them or something?” Richie looked at Eddie incredulously. “Of course I thought we’d be alone, I didn’t know they’d be here.”

Three guys walked towards them. The tallest of them had a smirk spread across his face and his eyes sparkled in delight. “Evening, faggots!” He called out, before nodding his head at the other two guys that had followed him, who grabbed Eddie and held him tightly. Eddie struggled for a moment then gave up, watching Richie’s furious face glaring at the tallest of the boys.  
“Get your goons off him,” he spat at him, and laughed bitterly and hit Richie across the face. It didn’t take Richie more than a second to retaliate, and he threw an equal blow back.  
“Don’t try to fight me, Tozier,” the kid said slyly.. “I think you forget that we’re the ones holding your faggot of a boyfriend over there,” he nodded his head to where Eddie, looking terrified and unsure of what to do, was standing with his arms held behind his back.  
“Now,” he said, feigning thinking hard. “Where was I? Oh! Right.” Swiftly, he pulled out a small knife from his pocket. Richie’s face darkened.  
“What will you do if I start cutting up your pretty boy’s face, huh Tozier?” He grinned playfully at Richie “Because if you try to get this away from me,” he brandished the pocketknife in Richie’s face, “then I don’t think it will end well for either of you.”

Richie looked at Eddie’s pale face, still being held tightly by the taler boys, who were silently smirking. It was three against one.  
Then, as if someone could hear his desperate, internal cry for help, two figures rounded the corner in the dark distance.  
The boys, who also noticed the people, squinted through the darkness towards them. They were as aware as Richie and Eddie were that if these people were just ordinary citizens, they probably wouldn’t care about the scene in front of them. However, as the figures got closer, realisation dawned on the tallest boy’s face. Cops. And not just any cops, who would probably break up the fight then do nothing, one of the officers was his father.  
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” He mumbled, then looked up at his friends. “Scram.”  
He took off.  
The two other boys looked at each other and dropped Eddie’s arms, following their leader, sprinting off in the distance.

“Coward!”  
Eddie stood, swaying on the spot, still pale with fear, and looked close to tears. Richie, only a few meters away, leapt towards his boyfriend and grabbed him around the waist.  
“Are they ever gonna stop?” Eddie whispered, staring up into Richie;s eyes. “Will they ever accept us?”  
In an unusually quiet reply, Richie kissed Eddie sofly.  
“Probably not,” he replied. “But until they do, if they do, we have each other. Right?”  
Eddie nodded, and the two boys sank to the ground, still grasping each other tightly, and they stayed there for the remainder of the night, sharing an occasional kiss and whispering to each other.

They both tried to keep each other’s minds off what had just happened, but the same question revolved around their heads.  
Would they ever be accepted?


	4. realisation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> richie realises just how much eddie has done for him.

Richie sat down on the end of Eddie’s bed. Eddie, who was standing up with his arms folded across his chest, looked down at Richie.   
“Bev told me you guys got high again last night,” he sighed. “Richie. I swear. I don’t mind you having a bit of fun every once in a while. But seriously? You can’t go doing this every week. It’s not good for you.”   
Colour flooded into Richie’s cheeks. “Eddie,” he said quietly. “Leave it. I’m not killing myself by smoking weed and getting drunk every once in a while.”   
“No,” Eddie agreed. “You wouldn’t be. But this isn’t once in a while for fuck’s sake. We’re talking every weekend.”   
Richie stood up.   
“I don’t want to fight Rich,” Eddie mumbled, considerably softer than before, trying to take Richie’s hand, but he snatched it away.   
“What the fuck is wrong with me having a bit of fun? Live while you’re young, right? Or is that not a thing as soon as I start doing stuff you don’t like?”   
Eddie sighed. “Richie! Please, just listen to me, I’m not asking you to stop, although, I wouldn’t object to it if you did. I just-”   
Richie’s bitter laugh cut Eddie off. “You’re so f…” he mumbled the last few words, and Eddie’s head snapped up from where he was staring at the floor. His eyes flashed dangerously.

“Do you want to repeat that sentence, Richie?”   
Richie rolled his eyes. “I said,” he replied coldly, “That you’re so fucking controlling.”   
“What, so caring about your health is controlling, Richie?!” Eddie yelled, and though he was smaller than Richie, his anger was just as apparent. “I’m trying to help you!”   
Richie shook his head. “No, Eddie, you’re trying to stop me from doing stuff that you don’t like me doing.” 

A sudden flood of tears streamed down Eddie’s face. “Can you just think about what you’re doing for one moment, Richie?!” He screamed, his nails, digging into his palms. “Why would I stop you from having fun unless it was important? I wouldn’t do that, because I love you, ass hole! And honestly, sometimes I think you forget that!”   
Richie stood still, his eyes suddenly wide, but he said nothing. Eddie, with angry eyes, fled the room suddenly, slamming the door behind him. Richie, suddenly realising, caught up to him before he got out the front door, grabbing Eddie’s sleeve right before he opened the door.   
“I don’t forget that,” Richie whispered. “I could never forget that you love me, Eds, because I love you too much,” he pulled Eddie into a tight hug.   
“I’m sorry,” Richie whispered, burying his head in Eddie’s hair; breathing in his scent. How could he have been so stupid as to cause a fight between them?  
He could have lost Eddie. He started this stupid argument when he could have just realised Eddie was looking out for him, being a good boyfriend.  
He loved Eddie with all his being.   
He could have lost him. 

Realising this, he began to cry softly into Eddie. “I’m sorry,” he said again. “I’m so sorry Eddie. I’m so so sorry.”   
Eddie kept his arms wrapped around Richie who was shaking suddenly.   
“Richie,” Eddie said quietly. “It’s okay. It’s okay. Why are you crying, silly?”   
Richie pulled his head away from Eddie’s but kept his arms around him tightly.   
“Because I love you Eds,” he whispered, his eyes still swimming. “Because I love you so goddamn much and I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”   
Eddie laughed quietly, all the anger from his eyes gone. He wiped away Richie’s tears with his thumb, then kissed him gently on the lips.   
“You’re not losing me anytime soon, idiot. I love you too.”


	5. breathe out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> richie finally works up the courage to ask something he's been waiting his whole life to say.

Richie sat upright and stiff on the couch, jittery, restless, and waiting for his boyfriend to arrive home to the apartment they shared. His hands shook and his foot tapped impatiently on the ground, going over and over in his head what he was about to say. 

Richie Tozier had been in love with Eddie Kaspbrak for as long as he could remember. Though for most of their childhood he had not realised those feelings were love, he’d always known that his relationship with Eddie had been different; special. Looking back, he recalled the first moment he realised what his true feelings for Eddie were. The moment he grabbed hands with Eddie when Bill had cut their hands open that day; in the moment they swore that they would fight It again if It ever returned- in that moment, when their hands touched, Richie knew. He felt this great rush of something, something he’d never felt before. 

From there, everything changed.   
Richie was open with the group from the very start about his sexuality, but there was a deep seated voice in the back of his head that always slyly told him that Eddie didn’t feel the same way. Richie had many sleepless nights over the next few years- partly because of the nightmares, but partly because Richie’s thoughts kept him awake more than anything. He would argue with himself, going back and forth about whether or not Eddie felt that way about him. Because Eddie wasn’t open with the group about his sexuality, Richie had no real idea about whether Eddie liked boys or girls or both (like him). 

But it wasn’t long after Richie’s sixteenth birthday that Eddie finally told him how he felt. He had been scared, scared because of the discrimination they lived amongst, scared because he didn’t know how Richie felt, and scared because he didn’t want anything to change amongst his friends. This all came pouring out of this mouth one cold Friday night after a fight that lead to Eddie telling Richie how he really felt.   
He remembers chasing Eddie down the road in the rain, and he remembers his lips doing all the talking for him. 

After that, things weren’t as hard, but only because they had each other. They came out to their friends, and of course nothing changed there. They had to deal with Eddie’s mom, which was a bit of a mess, but they got there in the end. And of course, they had to deal with the assholes at school. But the Losers were well used to that, and had dealt with far worse. Richie prided himself on his fighting abilities after that summer with It, and though Eddie was always honest with him, the group decided it was more fun to let Richie feel like he had something over the bullies, which usually resulted in a few black eyes. 

Here Richie was, almost ten years later, living with his boyfriend in New York, in the same apartment building as the rest of his best friends, hosting his own radio show and happier than he’d ever been. Here he was, ten years later, sitting on the couch, his foot tapping nervously on the ground, waiting for the squeak of the door and to see his boyfriend’s face. 

“Hey Rich!” Eddie called out as he opened the door, and smiled as he wiped his shoes on the mat and put his bag down.   
“Evening,” Richie grinned, holding his hand out in signal for Eddie to sit down on the couch.   
“How was your day?” Eddie asked, kissing Richie quickly then sitting down next to him. Richie swallowed harshly.   
“It was good, Eds. How about yours?” Eddie smiled a bit at the continued use of his nickname after all these years.   
“It was fine. Do you want me to sort dinner or-?”   
“Actually,” Richie said, cutting him off, “I need to ask you something.”   
“Oh! Okay,” Eddie said, looking surprised. “What’s up?”   
Richie stood up, his hands shaking, feeling the heavy lump in his pocket. 

He took what felt like the deepest breath of his life, and turned to face Eddie, sitting on the couch, waiting.   
He closed his eyes, and he opened them again. There he was. The love of his life, sitting expectantly.   
The love of his life. 

“Eddie,” he began croakily, then shook his head, smiling. “Eds.”   
Eddie rolled his eyes, but he was smiling.   
“Ever since I was twelve years old, I’ve felt things for you. Things I have never felt for anyone else. I’ve had crushes, but none of them ever amounted to what I felt for you. I have best friends, but whatever I had with you was different from the very start. It’s safe for me to say that I have loved you from the moment I set eyes on you, although it took me a few years to realise that was what it was. Love.”  
Breathe in.   
“You have been there for me through the best and worst times. You dealt with all my shit in high school, picked me up at three in the morning when I was beyond smashed, held me when everything was too much, and laughed at all my jokes- and let’s face it- not all of them were very good.”  
Breathe out.  
“You went through all that by my side, all that shit, and you’re still here, all these years later. I mean, it’s safe to say we’ve been through more than most couples or friends groups have- I doubt anyone else we know can say they meet their significant other and best friends through fighting a child eating shapeshifter.”  
Eddie giggled. There were tears in his eyes, and tears began to form in Richie’s.   
Breathe in.   
“I’m no good with words that aren’t jokes, hell, I tried to write all this down this morning, but I got two sentences in and forgot how to spell ‘amounted’.”  
Eddie laughed, and a few tears fell down his cheeks. Richie could feel his eyes spilling over too.   
Breathe out.   
“I guess there isn’t any other way to say it, Eds. I want you to know that I love you. I love you more than anything. You mean everything to me, Eddie, and there is no putting this off any longer.”   
Eddie’s breath hitched and Richie saw him freeze.   
Richie felt around for the lump in his pocket, and with shaking hands, got down on one knee in front of the couch, producing a ring.  
“Eds, Eddie Spaghetti, Eddie Kaspbrak...Will you marry me?” 

There was only a seconds silence, for it only took a second for every memory Eddie had of Richie to flash through his mind. He stood up and grabbed Richie and pulled him up off the ground, pressing his lips to Richie’s feeling their tears mix on their cheeks.   
“Yes,” Eddie whispered, not being able to stop the biggest, most beautiful smile Richie had ever seen cross his lips. “A thousand times, Richie, a thousand times yes.” 

Richie let out a cry of joy,something so pure and true, and pressed the ring onto Eddie’s finger.   
“I love you Eds.”  
“I love you too, Richie.”

Breathe out.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!  
i'm on tumblr too, come cry with me over fiction! @miss-mysticfalls


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